CLEVELAND — Cleveland City Council voted to pass an ordinance that makes it illegal for the city to do business with any known violator of certain labor laws.
“This is what I think is one of the more worker friendly bills that we've passed at Cleveland City Council,” Council President Blaine Griffin said. “And we're happy to be a part of the movement to make sure that working families have protections in place.”
Its passage is a victory for the Guardians for Fair Work, a group of local organizers who brought the issue to council’s attention about a year ago.
They spent that time calling city councilors, meeting with the community, starting petitions and writing policy to make a change.
One of those organizers, Aisia Jones, said she experienced wage theft firsthand when she was working at a grocery store as a teen.
“They would cut our hour breaks, the teenagers, they would cut our break short to 30 minutes at a time,” Jones said.
At the time, she didn’t realize what was happening was against the law.
“I thought, this is just how it is,” Jones said. “I think that’s what happens a lot.”
She said wage theft is when businesses shortchange employees.
In her case, she was forced to work those 30 minutes she wasn’t clocked in.
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